https://sig2perspectives.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=1753958Genetics of Alzheimer's DiseaseThis work was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health (1-P30-AG12300) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is common in the general population, afflicting an estimated 4 million Americans (Bennett & Evans, 1992). It is the most frequent cause of adult-acquired language ...1997-12-01T00:00:00ArticleLawrence S. Honig

This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging/National Institutes of Health (1-P30-AG12300) from the Alzheimer’s Disease Center.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is common in the general population, afflicting an estimated 4 million Americans (Bennett & Evans, 1992). It is the most frequent cause of adult-acquired language dysfunction. Like many other late-onset degenerative conditions, AD does not appear to be inherited, or have a genetic origin. However, in recent years two sorts of genetic influences on the incidence of AD have been shown: at least one gene representing a genetic risk factor for this apparently sporadic disorder has been discovered; and three deterministic genes that together directly cause as many as 5-10% of cases have been identified. Aside from age of onset, these purely genetic forms of the disease are indistinguishable from (i.e. “pheno-copies of”) the sporadic cases. These genes are subject to varied nomenclature, as will be discussed below, but have been referred to as AD1, AD2, AD3, and AD4, as well as by their protein names, or their chromosomal localizations (chromosomes 1, 14, 19, 21).